Thankful for Partnerships!
We are so thankful for our partnerships in the field in Kenya and Mexico as well as within the United States of America! Partnerships bring strength to one another as no one organization or person can do it all! Just like the composition of our Board of Directors, each of our partners in the field brings different strengths, experiences and serious expertise to the table and when we share all of that, it creates a win-win situation. The ultimate winners of it all…. the girls and women we serve and the communities they live in.
As we work with our partners on the ground, we recognize that we cannot have 10 leaders taking charge all at once in every single thing we do. When in our service areas, we trust in each other’s ability to lead in areas of strength and leadership may rotate depending upon what we are working on together. This allows us all to always have our best (and strongest) foot forward in all we do together.
Something else that keeps our partnerships strong is respect! We respect the contributions of each partner and see one another as equals. Part of this also means being engaged in learning and development together. Our friend John of Kambimoto Foundation in Mathare says “Learning from one another is important and when we share ideas we all add to it and create something new together.” Evaluation of our work is often a long conversation, but it should be! We like to spend time together reflecting upon our successes and what we did very well and what did not go so well so we can always improve together. We keep the goal in mind which is improving economic and education opportunities for the girls and women we serve rather than who gets credit for what. All the credit goes to God anyway! As our friend Aziri of Angaza Kids Foundation says, “there is no competition in helping others.”
As the holidays come around and plans are generated for our being on the ground in both Kenya and Mexico again this year, we look forward to all of the partnerships to gather together at one table! Some of our partners don’t yet know one another directly while others do and we look forward to bringing all of our partners, resources, master crafters, and vendors together in one place to not only network with one another but continue to share ideas and build! It will need to be a very large table, but…. having partners is key, right? So, NVS has some resource connections on space that will make this possible!
Cheers to all of our partners in creating economic and education opportunities for women around the world!
Networks for Voluntary Services | Nairobi Kenya
Angaza Kids Foundation | Kibera Kenya
Kambimoto Foundation | Mathare Kenya
Bishop Mutua Cornerstone Christian Church| Machakos Kenya
Numerous High Schools in Kibera and Mathare, Kenya
Fay Sejo | LaFemme | Nairobi Kenya
The Refugio | Hidalgo, Mexico
Our Master Crafter Partners that teach classes
The many churches that have invited us to events and to share
* Antioch Baptist Church, North Carolina
* Idlewild Baptist Church, North Carolina
* United Methodist Church, Oswego, New York
* Faith Alliance, North Carolina
* United Methodist Church, North Carolina
Transforma Fitness | Cairo, Egypt
We look forward to growing this list together in our current service areas as well as the additional location (country)!